Task 4: Public Relations & Branding

Task 4: Public relations and branding 

What is public relations?

Public relations simply means managing the message. Exposure is a distinctive activity between PR and the news forms. This relationship helps to expose the product via the media.PR stands for public relations, which simply means managing the message. Exposure is a distinctive activity between PR and the news forms. This relationship helps to expose the product via the media. Public Relations allows a favourable public image of the company to be maintained for example a good reputation. PR has an aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour.

What is branding?

The process involved in creating a name and image for a product  through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers.

What could harm a brands image?

Negative word of mouth can harm a brands image. For example Primark's sales were high and had a good reputation until negative word of mouth was spread about Primark sweat shops and unethical forms of trading. Nike is another example of this. However, it is not just clothing that can get bad reputation. The horsemeat scandal earlier this year caused Tesco sales to be 

What are the methods organisations use to promote their image? 

Celebrity endorsement is used as promotion for brands. This is an example of celebrity endorsement. Justin Bieber is being used to promote Adidas. He was used for various photo shoots shown wearing Adidas products. 

Case Study: An organisation which can use Public Relations to improve its image

COCA COLA

 

Coca Cola is sold in nearly every country in the world. It is the biggest brand of fizzy drink worldwide. They sell over 1.4 billion drinks a day. 

Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds relationships with organisations and their publics. 

It is important that an organisation keeps a meaningful trustworthy relationship with consumers. 

Coca Cola keeps consumers engaged. They do this in many ways including the 2 twitter accounts @cocacola & @cocacolaco 

Task 3: The Marketing Mix

Task 3: 


1.

What is the marketing mix ?

Marketing mix is the recipe for effective marketing: The 4 P's :

• Product

• Price

• Place 

• Promotion

Decisions about these are based on the results of the market research. Here are some key terms of effective targeted marketing:

Above the line
This is the use of media which broadcasts to a large audience for example advertising on ITV. 

Below the line

Use media to target a niche audience. For example emailing existing customers.

Through the line 
Is a mixture of both of the above.
There are many different techniques and strategies when it comes to pricing a product. Many companies research their audience and decide on which strategy will be the most successful. Some examples of different pricing strategies are below:

Cost plus pricing: 
This is a pricing strategy which is very simple and is simply making sure the business covers costs and of running the company makes a profit. The total costs of producing one unit of the product and profit calculated which is added the required profit margin. For example when selling a pen, perhaps covering the costs will be 50p but to make a profit the company sell the pens for 80p. 
Competitive pricing is where the competition in the market is strong so customers have a large choice of suppliers to buy from. Businesses must set their prices very similar to the prices of competitors or lower than the competition. The price will vary when taking quality, reputation and USP's into account. For example there is a strong competitive market between supermarkets. ASDA, Tesco, and Sainsburys all have similar pricing on their products and all offer price match. It is the USP's of the companies that keep the audience interested for example a Nectar Card, Club Card and special offers.

Penetration pricing: 
Penetration pricing is where the products pricing is set significantly lower than any competitors prices. This pricing strategy may be used where the objective is to enter or capture larger share of the market, but may yield a low profit or even a loss in the shore run. The price is usually raised later. Quite simply, penetration pricing is where a new product is entered into a market at a low price, then when customers become loyal the prices are raised. For example, when new collectors magazines are released, almost always the very first issue is 99p and when the customer enjoys the product they return to collect the issues when prices double the following week. 

Price skimming:
This is where new products are likely to generate a high volume of initial sales because it is new. A high price may be charged in order to maximise profits. The price will be reduced when the initial high demand has subsided. This is a product people are going to buy whatever the price. An example of this is computer games. For example Call Of Duty is released each year and every year thousands of people pre order the game and pay regardless of the price. However once the initial buzz of the new game has died down the price is reduced.This is because the 'loyal' customers have already purchased the game at full price. 

Destroyer pricing:
A destroyer pricing strategy involves setting a price so low that competitors cannot match it. In this way they will lose customers and be driven out of the market. The price can then be raised without threat of competition. This is most common in car insurance and other insurance policies. For example Tesco make an unbeatable insurance quote for young drivers which no other company can come close to matching. This means that Tesco will be the only choice for the young drivers and other companies such as Admiral will lose out on their sales.  

Competitive pricing: 
This is where the amount of competition in the market is strong so customers have a choice of suppliers to buy from. Companies must set their prices close to the prices of competitors. This has to take into account the quality, USPs, and reputation of the company. A prime example of this is supermarkets. Tescos, Sainsburys, and ASDA all promise to match eachothers pricing so it is the USP's of the businesses which will obtain the majority of the sales. For example: Some customers will choose Sainsburys as they collect points on their Nectar card. This is a USP. 

Before the initial price is set the product has to be promoted in order to make the audience aware of the new product. The strategies used depend on the company and the reputation, for example Apple do not have to spend lots of money on promotion as they already have millions of loyal customers. 

Promotion: 
The purpose of promoting a product is simply to raise awareness, and convince people that they need to buy your product. Promotion can be done in various ways for example:

Print- Posters, Street Promotion (banners and telephone boxes etc)
Web- Twitter, Youtube, Facebook etc
Audience- Word of mouth (where the audience inform others of the product and recommend)


2.
The marketing mix in marketing is very important and will determine the success of a product. The 4 P's have to be taken into account in order for the product to obtain successful sales. First of all a product has to be designed, then a price and place has to be determined and the product will not sell without the promotion. All of the 4 Ps are as important as each other. The 4 Ps in the marketing mix are product, price, promotion and place.  The product will have to have an appropriate price, promotion strategy and place etc. 

3. Application of the marketing mix-
The chosen product is Apple. 
Apple is a popular designer of mobile phones, tablets, laptops, computers and more. Apple is constantly designing new products, upgrading existing products and bringing out new releases. 
The pricing strategy of Apple is Price Skimming. This is where the product is expected to have a high volume of initial sales. This is because there is a high demand, so a high price is charged until the initial demand is complete. Once the demand is over, the prices will be lowered. This is because Apple know that there are customers who are going to buy their brand new product whatever the price. This strategy causes a huge impact on sales. Apple products tend to be more expensive than other competitors for example, an apple IPod can cost up to £200 whereas a supermarket mp3 can be as little as £15. Apples pricing strategy will allow the audience to be prepared to pay this due to the branding. 

Apple products are widely distributed to consumers. Many shops sell Apple products on their behalf. For example: Argos, Tesco, Phones 4 U and many more. They use this method of sales because they know it will increase the sales. It makes the product become more widely available. This means people are more likely to buy the product as it is simple and easy to get hold of. This is an advantage as it means more people will own the product, more people will recommend the product and therefore more people will then buy the product. 
This method also has some disadvantages, for example Argos may be able to offer exclusive deals to entice buyers which apple may not be able to match. For example Argos offer a £10 gift card when £100 is spent, this means that this USP will attract people to buy their IPad from Argos. 
Marketing an Apple product is simple as most of the marketing comes from word of mouth and the exiting reputation that the previous products already have. For instance, existing customers who have had previous IPhones will not need much promotion to entice them to buy the new release. Apple to promote their products through TV ads, mainly through the internet which provokes word of mouth via social networking. Within minutes of the new IPhones release, it was trending on twitter. Social networking is more effective than TV ads as it caters to a larger audience as more people spend their time online than they do watching TV ads. Apples promotional techniques are mainly word of mouth as the branding will allow valued customers to upgrade to newer products when they are released. Apple also tends to be a fashion accessory for example most people will own an apple product for example an IPhone, therefore others will want one. 

Task 2: The Big 6 Question

The big 6 questions

1. What is marketing?

Marketing consists of promoting a product and creating awareness and excitement in your audience. Marketing is all about identifying audience needs and perhaps creating needs for the audience. Marketers deal with creating an appropriate price for their products and dealing with the competitive environment. It is important to have a USP when trying to compete in the market. Market research takes place in order to investigate the customer needs and techniques to sell effectively. Product Development  is one of the key stages in marketing. It is when the product is improved or developed. 

2. What is involved in a marketing campaign? 

There are certain tools and techniques involved in a marketing campaign. Promotional techniques include: Street promotion and posters, hosting events, TV/Radio ads, printed ads and more. There is also direct marketing, this is where promotion occurs via emails, post and telephone calls. The Internet is a key tool because it can connect to its audience using social networking and YouTube ads. Emails are also a part of Internet techniques. Word of mouth is a useful endorsement. Word of mouth is where talk of the product will spread and the product will be advertised through social interaction. For example twitter will have a trending topic when many people talk about the same thing. Sponsorships is a promotional technique in marketing. It will allow a larger audience to be reached than the budget can afford. The most common sponsorship in marketing is within events such as sports.

3.What is PR?
PR stands for public relations, which simply means managing the message. Exposure is a distinctive activity between PR and the news forms. This relationship helps to expose the product via the media. Public Relations allows a favourable public image of the company to be maintained for example a good reputation. PR has an aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour.

4. How has marketing strategy/technique evolved over the past 10 years? 

The mass growth of use of the Internet and social networking sites have evolved the strategies used in marketing. There is a lot more competition in the market so techniques have to be individual. When strategies stand out from the rest there will be a lot of discussion and word of mouth about the product. The Internet provides more tools and techniques especially when connecting with the audience. Facebook and twitter allow marketing to have more strategies to interact with its audience and find out more about demands and opinions. For example certain companies use ask hashtags where the audience can interact with the company on a worldwide trend, therefore causing more publicity and advertising while connecting with the audience.

5. How has our understanding of marketing audiences changes in the 21st century?
The audience itself has higher expectations as they're expecting things to develop and improve all the time. Products have to meet individual needs as there's now more choice and competition. The audience tends to follow their favourite brand and status so as a new product it is hard to break into the industry. Marketing is now more cynical. The audience have developed more of a care and need for ethical standards for example fair trade. In the 21st century, technology has allowed the audience to have a voice through social media.

6.What is more important, the product or the marketing?
Both are just as important as each other. Having one without the other would mean that the whole organisation would be very likely to fail. If all the finance was spent on the product itself then the product would be of high standard but the world and general audience would be unaware of this and would have no knowledge of the product features and contents. However, if all the finance was spent on the marketing and promotion of the product then the product itself would not be on high enough standard to sell to an audience with such high expectations and demands.